Have you noticed the price of beef lately? In April of this year, beef prices reached historic highs due to the decreasing supply of cattle going to slaughter. The U.S. inventory of cattle is expected to increase next year due to farmers not culling their herds as tightly as well as holding back their young stock. With pasture conditions improving in the Midwest, farmers are able to produce cattle with heavier carcass weights, which is helping to offset some of the decrease in supply, but it is also allowing them to retain their cattle longer before taking them to market. Commercial beef production in the U.S. is expected to decline to a multi-decade low of 24 billion this year according to the USDA.
Global markets are responding to the U.S. price surge. The Australian cattle industry is experiencing severe drought conditions in many beef producing areas and beef prices there are extremely low. Seeing opportunity in the overseas markets, they have exported to the U.S. 412.3 million pounds of beef between January and April of this year.
